1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component, and more particularly, to a large-capacity multilayer ceramic electronic component having excellent reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In accordance with the recent trend toward miniaturization of electronic products, the demand for multilayer ceramic electronic components having a small size and large capacitance has been also increased.
Therefore, dielectric layers and inner electrode layers have been thinned and increasingly multilayered by various methods. Recently, as the dielectric layers have been thinned, multilayer ceramic electronic components having an increased number of lamination layers have been manufactured.
As the dielectric layers and the inner electrode layers are thinned in order to realize larger capacitances, the thicknesses of the inner electrode layers may neither be uniform nor continuously maintained, and thus, the inner electrode layers may be partially disconnected, thereby causing a break in the connectivity thereof.
Furthermore, as the inner electrode layers are disconnected, the dielectric layers are partially thickened or thinned although the dielectric layers have a uniform average thickness. Insulating properties in portions in which the dielectric layers are thinned may be deteriorated, resulting in a deterioration of reliability.
Meanwhile, fine-grain ceramic powders contained in an inner electrode paste leak into the dielectric layer during a sintering process, thereby causing abnormal grain growth of dielectric grains in contact with the inner electrode layers. This may result in a deterioration of the reliability of the multilayer ceramic electronic component.